This is a hard post to write but it’s also really exciting. I’ll get the bad news out of the way quickly: Lucifer’s Favour and Beelzebub’s Bargain won’t be released until later this year. The good news is that the whole trilogy will have awesome new covers (yes, the first one too). I’m basically waiting for them to be ready and I’ll release all the books soon after, in ebook and paperback format.
New covers
Why new covers? The current cover for Devil’s Deal is one I made myself. While readers told me they liked/loved it, it still didn’t fit in well with the genre. I had already planned to get new covers a few years later but my husband decided to give them to me now as a surprise. I already knew who to ask and she accepted. But like most popular book cover designers she booked clients for months in advance.
I shared all the information about the books and the old covers with the designer, and now it’s just waiting for my timeslot to come up and see what she comes up with. I still have no idea what the new covers will look like, not a clue. I do know there won’t be half-naked man chests or dagger-wielding babes on the front. Nora is not that kind of girl. Nor are Ben and Danny that kind of men.
Delayed
This trilogy has been a learning process. Besides that Devil’s Deal was my first novel, the whole publishing traject was new again. Working with a developmental editor, and later this year with a professional cover designer, has taught me so much. With the second and third book, I had to learn more about overarching story structure, continued character growth, and pacing. My writing got better as I learn more about sentence and paragraph structure. I’ve learned so much in the past two years and I can honestly say that these books have come a long way. The first draft of Devil’s Deal was a mess, but the reworked edition is so much better. I hope that people will give the trilogy a chance once all the books are published.
New release schedule
I don’t want to give any hard dates, but I’ll share my intentions. I’ve almost finished the hardest revision I’ve ever had to do. That includes redoing my whole master thesis in two months. Lucifer’s Favour is a tough one like most second books are. It still has to be interesting even though the real climax of the series won’t be in this book. Thankfully, I have a great editor and with his notes, I’m turning it into something exciting. The rest of the edits won’t take as long as this revision.
Immediately after I’m done with the revision, I’ll jump into the revision of Beelzebub’s Bargain while I wait for line edits. I suspect that will need a ton of rework too, but not as much as Lucifer’s Favour. I plan to have both books done (maybe all but the proofread) before I’ll get my covers. That means the paperbacks will be available at roughly the same time as the ebooks. The ebook version of Devil’s Deal will have an updated cover but you won’t have to repurchase it if you have the new edition. If you only have the old one, send me an email and I’ll give you a new copy free of charge.
My intention is to have the complete Infernal Contracts trilogy available as ebook and paperback before the end of the year.
I’ve cut so many scenes from the books now that I want to do something exciting for the fans. Sign up to my newsletter to receive some of these scenes over the summer and get a sneak peek at what’s coming for Nora and her friends (without spoilers!).
